Thistledown Bachelor’s Block Ebenezer Barossa Valley Shiraz 2022
- 96
- $105
- Drink by: 2026-2041
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From quite a famous block in the Ebenezer sub-region in the Barossa Valley, the team include whole bunches in the fermentation, which was with wild yeasts, with subsequent maturation for a year in French oak hogsheads. Just 1,510 bottles. Vibrant maroon with a magenta rim, there is a nose of wild raspberries, dusty chalk soil, smoked meats, aniseed, woodsmoke, black fruits and cassis. The texture is seductive, and the intensity never wavers for a moment. There is serious length here and the wine has both energy and focus. Immaculate oak integration, this is a fifteen-year proposition, and it should do that time standing on its head.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
